Borrowed Time

Stats

How to Abaddon: Abaddon hope all ye who enter

Introduction

Hello all!

As this is my second published guide (I have a few others on the go as well), keep in mind it is still a work in progress, and I will be adding (or subtracting) from it as the days go on, and as I learn more.

Abaddon is a bit of a jack of all trades. He's only listed as a Melee in Dota 2 as of currently, but he seems to me to have the traits of support, carry, initiator, durable, disabler, escape, and possibly pusher and jungler, at least with the build I have built. I will explain later (hopefully, if I have the time).

Introduction

Hello all!

As this is my second published guide (I have a few others on the go as well), keep in mind it is still a work in progress, and I will be adding (or subtracting) from it as the days go on, and as I learn more.

Abaddon is a bit of a jack of all trades. He's only listed as a Melee in Dota 2 as of currently, but he seems to me to have the traits of support, carry, initiator, durable, disabler, escape, and possibly pusher and jungler, at least with the build I have built. I will explain later (hopefully, if I have the time).

Abilities

Mist Coil - This is a ranged spell that heals friendly units or damages enemies for twice as much damage as it costs you in health. Could be useful as a support for baby-sitting your lane mates, but the health and mana costs are a bit high. Definitely great for finishing that enemy hero who's just beyond reach, and the damage you cause yourself helps fuel your next ability.

Aphotic Shield - This targetable spell creates a kind of blade armour effect. It absorbs all damage done to the target up to a limit, and once that limit is reached deals damage to all units around the target. Great to use on your initiator (usually yourself in lane)in teamfights. Use it as well in one-on-one fights as it basically increases your effective health by up to 200 every 6 seconds. That could be an extra 400-600 health (and damage) per fight! Great for pushing or jungling as well. As it does have a 15 second duration, use this well before you enter or initiate a teamfight.

Curse of Avernus - This passive ability is a short term slow, with a movement and attack speed buff (and the buff is applied before the first hit which means that you get the effect right away!) that effects all units that target the same target as Abaddon. No mana cost or targeting makes this truly amazing!

Borrowed Time - This is your ultimate (and it's a passive ability). Basically it's like a quicker, but worse version of Aegis, in that once you get low enough in health, all damage that is done to you is turned into a heal, so it basically brings you up to full health (unless you're playing with someone who runs away or stops attacking when they see that), but it doesn't refresh abilities or return mana like Aegis does. This, along with Aphotic Shield make you nigh impossible to kill.

*[Edited]* I take (and max) Aphotic Shield first for the extra damage and effective health and level it to max. Having that extra survivability is amazing. I interchange it with Curse of Avernus at level 2, for extra harassment of the enemy, and to gain that movement speed difference in case I need to run away (it's a 20% movement speed difference to start and goes up to a 35% movement speed difference once maxed. That's a bit of a difference!), and Mist Coil at level 4, for a bit of ranged harassment and possibly as a finisher (if they're trying to run away at low health).

Abilities

Mist Coil - This is a ranged spell that heals friendly units or damages enemies for twice as much damage as it costs you in health. Could be useful as a support for baby-sitting your lane mates, but the health and mana costs are a bit high. Definitely great for finishing that enemy hero who's just beyond reach, and the damage you cause yourself helps fuel your next ability.

Aphotic Shield - This targetable spell creates a kind of blade armour effect. It absorbs all damage done to the target up to a limit, and once that limit is reached deals damage to all units around the target. Great to use on your initiator (usually yourself in lane)in teamfights. Use it as well in one-on-one fights as it basically increases your effective health by up to 200 every 6 seconds. That could be an extra 400-600 health (and damage) per fight! Great for pushing or jungling as well. As it does have a 15 second duration, use this well before you enter or initiate a teamfight.

Curse of Avernus - This passive ability is a short term slow, with a movement and attack speed buff (and the buff is applied before the first hit which means that you get the effect right away!) that effects all units that target the same target as Abaddon. No mana cost or targeting makes this truly amazing!

Borrowed Time - This is your ultimate (and it's a passive ability). Basically it's like a quicker, but worse version of Aegis, in that once you get low enough in health, all damage that is done to you is turned into a heal, so it basically brings you up to full health (unless you're playing with someone who runs away or stops attacking when they see that), but it doesn't refresh abilities or return mana like Aegis does. This, along with Aphotic Shield make you nigh impossible to kill.

*[Edited]* I take (and max) Aphotic Shield first for the extra damage and effective health and level it to max. Having that extra survivability is amazing. I interchange it with Curse of Avernus at level 2, for extra harassment of the enemy, and to gain that movement speed difference in case I need to run away (it's a 20% movement speed difference to start and goes up to a 35% movement speed difference once maxed. That's a bit of a difference!), and Mist Coil at level 4, for a bit of ranged harassment and possibly as a finisher (if they're trying to run away at low health).

Items

The very first item I build is Urn of Shadows, for three reasons. 1)The extra 6 strength for health and damage is needed for survivability and ganks early game, 2)the mana regen is incredibly useful early game for your Aphotic Shield spam, and 3)for the free heals which increases your already large early game survivability (ie/ the more time on the field means more exp and gold for you).

Next I go for a Bracers for the extra damage and stat boosts. From there to Morbid Mask for the lifesteal (and more survivability), and then Boots of Speed to help run away or chase.

The first item to complete after that is Mask of Madness. The attack and movement speed works amazingly with Abaddon. The extra damage means Aphotic Sheild goes off earlier, and when your ultimate kicks in it means 30% extra healing as well!

Power Treads, for the extra strength and attack speed, are next, followed by Skull Basher. I get Skull Basher here for the extra strength, damage and the stun with the MoM goes off like crazy! You could go with Monkey King Bar here instead (it works better with the attack speed buff from MoM) but it's a lot more expensive and will delay your next item, but if you're going up against someone with a dodge (like Faceless Void) then it might be worth it.

Crystalys is next for even more damage chances with the increased attack speed.

The optional choices right now are things I'm playing around with. The Armlet or Mordiggian with MoM on Abaddon seems to work quite amazingly, surprisingly. Battle Fury gives you more AoE to go with Aphotic Shield. Black King Bar is one I'm not sure of. The on use ability seems less useful as your survivability is already almost too good, but the extra damage and str are nice. Aghanim's Scepter increases the invulnerability of your ultimate by 2 seconds, which could mean everything in a teamfight, but it's a bit expensive. Sange and Yasha could be useful, but I haven't tried it yet as part of a build in game. The slow debuff and movement buff could mesh well with Curse of Avernus, but it may be a bit overkill, which means the money could be better spent elsewhere. The last item is Divine Rapier, and given your survivability, it could be a valid option.

Items

The very first item I build is Urn of Shadows, for three reasons. 1)The extra 6 strength for health and damage is needed for survivability and ganks early game, 2)the mana regen is incredibly useful early game for your Aphotic Shield spam, and 3)for the free heals which increases your already large early game survivability (ie/ the more time on the field means more exp and gold for you).

Next I go for a Bracers for the extra damage and stat boosts. From there to Morbid Mask for the lifesteal (and more survivability), and then Boots of Speed to help run away or chase.

The first item to complete after that is Mask of Madness. The attack and movement speed works amazingly with Abaddon. The extra damage means Aphotic Sheild goes off earlier, and when your ultimate kicks in it means 30% extra healing as well!

Power Treads, for the extra strength and attack speed, are next, followed by Skull Basher. I get Skull Basher here for the extra strength, damage and the stun with the MoM goes off like crazy! You could go with Monkey King Bar here instead (it works better with the attack speed buff from MoM) but it's a lot more expensive and will delay your next item, but if you're going up against someone with a dodge (like Faceless Void) then it might be worth it.

Crystalys is next for even more damage chances with the increased attack speed.

The optional choices right now are things I'm playing around with. The Armlet or Mordiggian with MoM on Abaddon seems to work quite amazingly, surprisingly. Battle Fury gives you more AoE to go with Aphotic Shield. Black King Bar is one I'm not sure of. The on use ability seems less useful as your survivability is already almost too good, but the extra damage and str are nice. Aghanim's Scepter increases the invulnerability of your ultimate by 2 seconds, which could mean everything in a teamfight, but it's a bit expensive. Sange and Yasha could be useful, but I haven't tried it yet as part of a build in game. The slow debuff and movement buff could mesh well with Curse of Avernus, but it may be a bit overkill, which means the money could be better spent elsewhere. The last item is Divine Rapier, and given your survivability, it could be a valid option.

Matchups

As I've only played 4 games with Abaddon (and won all of them!) I don't have a great idea on these as of yet, but he doesn't seem to have a hard counter as of yet, but Axe's ulti could cause issues, possibly along with any large damage nukes like Sniper or Lion's ulti's, for if they take you all the way past your ulti's threshold to 0 health, it may not kick in.

*[Edited]* I've played 3 more games (and I lost one of them) With the newer build maxing Mist Coil second, silences seem to be more effective against Abaddon. I was having some problems against Skywrath Mage, so I would add him to the list of enemies to avoid, and possibly Silencer (although with Aphotic Shield]] Silencer may not be too bad to go against.

Matchups

As I've only played 4 games with Abaddon (and won all of them!) I don't have a great idea on these as of yet, but he doesn't seem to have a hard counter as of yet, but Axe's ulti could cause issues, possibly along with any large damage nukes like Sniper or Lion's ulti's, for if they take you all the way past your ulti's threshold to 0 health, it may not kick in.

*[Edited]* I've played 3 more games (and I lost one of them) With the newer build maxing Mist Coil second, silences seem to be more effective against Abaddon. I was having some problems against Skywrath Mage, so I would add him to the list of enemies to avoid, and possibly Silencer (although with Aphotic Shield]] Silencer may not be too bad to go against.

I'm not really a big fan of your item build. i feel like he benefits more from survivability items like AC and Satanic. MoM makes him really squishy and you don't have a single survivability item listed in his core. I would ditch MoM completely and pick up a satanic and you would be in much better shape. Give it a shot and maybe you will agree with me but for now i will hold my vote since you did say it was a work in progress.

If you are going carry, and you are ditching getting Mist Coil early, why get it at all? Burst damage/ heal are most effective during the mid game (of course this is simply because that is when it is maxed, and HP/Magic resistance are still low because of lack of levels/farm). Wouldn't just stacking stats after that point be more effective?

Also if you want to carry, generally strength heroes go Power Treads for the extra attack speed. Especially on abbadon, a hero who will use attack STR for damage/HP and INT for mana, it seems like it would be better. Of course, Phase Boots is still carry option, but usually Phase Boots Drums of Endurance for mid game carry presence is the way that goes.

Pantera1000: do you remember what his ult does :o. If he takes any extra damage from MOM, it turns into extra HP. It is a valid option for lifesteal on him I think. It gives movement speed, attack speed, and considerable damage while running very little risk when you ult is up.

I have thought a bit about Assault Cuirass as it does buff armour and attack speed, and the armour debuff could work with Abaddon, but Satanic is just so expensive that, in my mind, it's more of a luxury/very late game item. I've never gotten one with more that a minute to play till the end anyways, but Heart of Tarrasque is slightly cheaper and the strength and health boost on it is better, so I will test that out. The last game I played he did seem a little more fragile than the previous 3.

@Wisdomseyes1

I generally tend to go with Power Treads in general, but the Phase Boots on Abaddon seem to work better for me as of so far. I will be doing more testing on that though.

I will do some testing about getting Mist Coil a little earlier and see if it helps more than maxing/getting more of Curse of Avernus before it. And I still have used Mist Coil in late game for those hero's that have a slightly faster movement speed or who get a head start on me to finish them off, so I still would get it myself over more stats, but it's worth testing out to see anyways. :-)

Well, I only play in pubs, so maybe that's why it feels that way? I hadn't seen anyone play Abaddon yet after his release, as I've been lucky and been able to take him each time so far, so these are my thoughts and if they line up with others, then so be it?

As you can tell from my build I don't have drums in it, and SnY are optional (and something I still haven't actually tested yet), so that wasn't really my reasoning for taking MoM. It's really because Abaddon's ulti (and Aphotic Shield's minor invulnerability) basically removes the drawback from MoM and turns it (at least partially) into a benefit.

I've tried Power Treads once since I made this guide and I'm still unsure, still needs more testing right now.

Hi. I like your build idea (that is, to get as much dps, lifesteal and movement speed while ditching survivability items on him), because if U get tank items for abaddon, smart people just tend to ignore him completely since his ulty turns on and that makes this hero only tank/support and, to be honest, there are much better heroes for these roles than abaddon. However, Building him as dps and low helth (no tank items+ items like mask of madness that makes him even more tempting target), u can squeeze maximum effect of your ultimate (if they try to ignore u, you get free high damage hits and if they try to focus u down fast, your ulty activates and u are almost instantly healed and invulnerable for its duration). That being said, its wise to focus on damage itmes (crystalis and skull basher are the best for abaddon) + lifestal (MoM is the obvious choice given the increased damage taken and attack speed to synergize with crystalis crits and skullbasher stuns), but vlads offering should also be noted in the optional itmes section, because it could be useful if enemy team choses to ignore u when your ulty activates despide the high damage u do (u need to heal yourself during the duration of your ulty or else you would be killed shortly afterwards). As for urn of shadows, I like the itme myself and use it with a lot of heroes, but I found that getting talisman of valor for abaddon for mana regen is a better option, esp later in game, bearing the philosophy of this build in mind (use the active ability of the item on enemy carry and assault him with MoM active and skullbasher ;)), but your have to be more careful early game. Scepter is tepmting, but its too expensive and really useful if you already have high dps/lifesteal or else you just will be ignored for the duration of your ultimate dealing pitiful damage yourself and easily killed after your ulty is over. armlet is surprisingly great, but its apt to be fixed in upcoming patches I guess, and the armot it gives is not really desirable. So yeh, going "berserker" (inviting damage, doing damage) with abaddon is really effective and, more importantly, great fun.